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Origin of sawtooth domain walls in ferroelectrics

J. Zhang, Y.-J. Wang, J. Liu, J. Xu, D. Wang, L. Wang, X.-L. Ma, C.-L. Jia, and L. Bellaiche
Phys. Rev. B 101, 060103(R) – Published 25 February 2020
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Abstract

Domains and domain walls are among the key factors that determine the performance of ferroelectric materials. In recent years, a unique type of domain walls, i.e., the sawtooth-shaped domain walls, has been observed in BiFeO3 and PbTiO3. Here, we build a minimal model to reveal the origin of these sawtooth-shaped domain walls. Incorporating this model into Monte Carlo simulations shows that (i) the competition between the long-range Coulomb interaction (due to bound charges) and short-range interaction (due to opposite dipoles) is responsible for the formation of these peculiar domain walls and (ii) their relative strength is critical in determining the periodicity of these sawtooth-shaped domain walls. Necessary conditions to form such domain walls are also discussed.

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  • Received 29 May 2019
  • Revised 12 October 2019
  • Accepted 7 February 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.101.060103

©2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

J. Zhang1, Y.-J. Wang2, J. Liu3, J. Xu1, D. Wang1,*, L. Wang4, X.-L. Ma2, C.-L. Jia1,5, and L. Bellaiche6

  • 1School of Microelectronics and State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
  • 2Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenhua Road 72, 110016 Shenyang, China
  • 3State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
  • 4Electronic Materials Research Laboratory, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
  • 5Ernst Ruska-Center for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany
  • 6Department of Physics and Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA

  • *dawei.wang@xjtu.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 101, Iss. 6 — 1 February 2020

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